This month's IndieWeb Carnival focuses on self-expression. Everyone and anyone is welcome to participate! I love reading posts in different languages!
Send me a webmention or email me at pablo[at]lifeofpablo.com to submit your posts. I will create a round up post and i will update this blog post with the replies I receive!
What is self-expression?
That depends
self-expression (noun)
self-ex·pres·sion ˌself-ik-ˈspre-shən
The expression of one's personality : assertion of one's individual traits
Self-expression comes in various forms. It manifests differently in every person. There is no single route to how people develop how they become. People express themselves loudly, quietly, non-verbally, or in any other way. Many things influence us in our lives. The environment we grew up in influences how we present to the world. Our cultural backgrounds, the countries we've lived in, the languages we speak, or the type of supportive friends we have in our lives are all the ingredients that build the recipe for who we become and how we share our personalities with the world.
For me, I love speaking languages! I love playing games in French and being super duper competitive. I love reading in Spanish!
I grew up in a Mexican household which has greatly influenced my ways of self-expression. I love speaking with more emotion at home and being surrounded by people with my cultural background. An example of this is when I am angry, I will cuss in Spanish like no other. I feel so much better after letting it all out. This Instagram reel in Spanish will tell you what I mean.
The Mexican culture influences my American side and vice versa. I would consider myself very expressive in English. Ever since I was a kid, I loved saying, "That's so cute" or "That flower is so pretty." Sharing your emotions is very beautiful. Don't be afraid of saying things out loud like this. Fuck that toxic masculinity garbage!
I love blogging and journaling. I love having a journal - getting lost in my thoughts while jotting them down on beautiful lined or dotted paper on a park bench or sitting crisscross applesauce on the top of a building in San Francisco. I love sharing my thoughts publicly blogging or quietly on paper. Not all forms of expression have to be public. Self-expression also includes time when it's you and only you involved. This includes recording audio notes, coding your new blog engine, or building an arcade cabinet. Alone time is self-expression.
As I've become older, I've stopped caring as much about what people perceive of me (or what I thought people perceived of me) in the things that interest me. Self-expression is about how comfortable you can be with yourself. It comes down to loving yourself more every day. I love dressing in bright colors, especially on a nice sunny day. It makes me feel great and brightens my mood. Heck, find me wearing the brightest pink shirt out in public in the streets of San Francisco.
How you view self-expression is open to interpretation. How do you self-express?
Here are some questions to get you started to get the juices flowing:
How do you present yourself to the world?
What does self-expression do for you?
Do you use self-expression as a coping mechanism?
What has been your journey to becoming a more expressive version of yourself?
If your family culture is different from the country that you live in, how do you balance your self-expression? Are they intertwined?
Submissions
- Another time by Greg Sarjeant.
- shamanism by Tomás
- I Always Wanted to Write a Manifesto by Lou Plummer
- Self expression in a uniform world by Fusil House
- A Little Learning ...But I forgive myself by Jeremy Cherfas
- Lost Signal by Sophia Wood
- small Web as self-expression by (dr) molly tov
- Self-Expression by Scott Merrill
- The Many Expressions of my Soul by Marisabel
- Way over yonder in the low-key by Bobby Hiltz
- Closet what Closet? by Sara Jakša
- Self-Expression In 2025 by andrei
- Self-expression and Babu's Dream Café by Ross
- Maintaining a multilingual blog is hard (English) | 玩多語言部落格好像吃力不討好 (Chinese) by Alex Hsu
- On Self-Expression: My Quarter Century Of Blogging by Bix